Brazil's last asbestos miners are switching to rare earth minerals. Can they offer a brighter future?

Minaà§u, a small city in inland Brazil and home to the only asbestos mine in the Americas, is set to become the first operation outside Asia to produce four rare earths on a commercial scale - a group of minerals key to the energy transition at the centre of the trade dispute between China and the US. Until now, China has dominated the separation of rare earths, and accounts for 90% of the manufacture of rare-earth magnets, or super magnets, which are made with these elements and used in electric cars, wind turbines and military equipment such as jets. But…